Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

as a first car I loved it and kept it spotless

This exactly. I learnt in a Yaris, but my first was a dark green hand-me-down 20 year old Audi 80. I didn't technically own it, but was the sole user.

(^that's not it)

It was a really bombproof car, slow, stable at speed, boring. So naturally I had dreams of turning it into a lowriding beast with a batshitcrazy stereo that Snoop Dogg would be envious of, but then I moved to London and gave up on driving.